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duncanshiell's avatarduncanshiell

Born in 1948. I retired from full-time work in May 2007, after 37 years with Ordnance Survey and associated bodies and now have time to devote to crosswords, something not available for many years. Product of 17 years in the Scottish education system, but lived overseas or in southern England for virtually all of the time thereafter. I moved back to Scotland in 2010. Regular road runner and recently returned to orienteering and golf after a 35 year gap. Developed interested in cryptic crosswords in the mid 1960s (Scotsman, Sunday Express skeleton), but working overseas and then raising a family, meant dropping out of crossword solving for about 30 years. Now a regular solver of Times, Guardian, Independent, Inquisitor, Listener and Magpie crosswords. Reasonably regular finisher of the first four. Started blogging in late 2007. Any solving ability far outweighs any clueing ability. Krypton Factor contestant 1983; eliminated in the first round, but the obstacle course finish made good television!

Independent Prize Crossword 7051 by Monk (23 May 2009)

Fri May 29, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

A tricky challenge from Monk that took me a little while to solve.  The clues were fair and the surfaces were excellent, but some of the answers or definitions were fairly obscure – … Read more >>

Categories Independent 2 Comments

Inquisitor 122 – Papa by Phi

Fri May 8, 2009 at 7:32 am by duncanshiell

The preamble stated that ‘eight double clues lead to two solutions (two of two words); straddling the two in the order presented is a thematic word.  The thematic words (one of two words) … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 7 Comments

Independent 7028 / Mordred (Prize Puzzle 25-04-09)

Fri May 1, 2009 at 8:02 amFri May 1, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

My first attempt at blogging a daily crossword, having previously blogged The Inquisitor regularly and Guardian Genius (once so far). I thought the clueing in this crossword was elegant with a number of … Read more >>

Categories Independent 4 Comments

Inquisitor 118 – Crazy Couple by Poat

Fri April 10, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

We were told that wordplay in twelve clues was deficient by a single letter, the omissions making an arrangement for what the couple failed to provide when it was first demanded. Further, solvers … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 8 Comments

Inquisitor 114 – Monkey Runs by Dysart

Fri March 13, 2009 at 7:35 am by duncanshiell

We were told that the initial letters of extra words in twenty-two (of forty-seven) clues would spell out the source of a quotation explaining what happens to seven answers. These initial letters would … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 110 – Tragedy by Schadenfreude

Fri February 13, 2009 at 7:35 am by duncanshiell

On my last blog, Inquisitor 106, Pared Down by Kea, I commented that I was lucky to have to blog only twenty-one clues. I shouldn’t have celebrated so much as I have lurched … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 3 Comments

Inquisitor 106 – Pared Down by Kea

Fri January 16, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

There was a very short preamble on this puzzle – ‘each Across clue contains an extraneous definition of one of the Down Clues, which are otherwise unclued’. There were twenty-one Across clues. A … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 104: Merry-Go-Round by Eddie

Fri January 2, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

The preamble stated that five words (one in a shortened form) of a song title would be spelled out in clue order, by single extra letters generated by wordplay in each of 25 … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 103 – The Top Ten by Charybdis

Fri December 26, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

Solvers were told that nine clue-answers had to be jumbled to form new real-word grid entries. We were also told that the first letters of these nine clues would spell a word, referred … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Inquisitor 102 – Responsibility by Kruger

Fri December 19, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

I have certainly increased my knowledge of obscure Gods and Goddesses from different mythologies as a result of this puzzle, but am very grateful that I had a copy of the specific reference … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Inquisitor 101 – HKL by Raich

Fri December 12, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

I suspect this puzzle should have been published the previous week rather than the 29th November when it did see the light of day. It obviously got bounced by Inquisitor 100 with its … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Guardian Genius 65 by Enigmatist

Sun June 28, 2009 at 11:56 amMon December 1, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

Another BOB DYLAN crossword, overlapping a recent Listener, although I am not sure why the focus was on Dylan in November. It’s not his birthday nor any other particular anniversary that I can … Read more >>

Categories Guardian Genius 2 Comments

Inquisitor 98 – Favourite by Loda

Fri November 21, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

LODA is a regular contributer to the Inquisitor series and his (?) puzzles cover a wide range of subjects. This one took us into deepest Peckham in London. We were told that the … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Inquisitor 94 – E-numbers by Raich

Fri October 24, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

We were told that there were twenty-one special clues, seven with wordplay leading to the answer plus an extra letter, seven with wordplay leading to the answer with one letter missing and seven … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 6 Comments

Inquisitor 90 – Trick by Schadenfreude

Fri September 26, 2008 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

We were presented with three sets of clues – 16 Thematic, 17 Across and 14 Down. There was no indication where the answer or , more correctly, the amended answer to each unnumbered … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 1 Comment
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